Faculty of Education - Theses

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Author: Asai, Kunikazu × Type: Masters Research thesis × Subject: English language ×

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    An investigation of cultural meanings embedded in authorised textbooks for high school students of English in Japan
    Asai, Kunikazu ( 2004)
    The research is aimed at investigating what cultural meanings are embedded in words or stories in English textbooks used in high schools in Japan. Native speakers of English are assumed to have a common shared centre of meaning, which non-native speakers could not access with dictionaries, because such knowledge is often culture specific. By interviewing native speakers on such shared knowledge, the data were collected and then analysed so that the common shared centre of meaning be specified. The cultural meanings were further analysed so that ideology embedded in texts be revealed. Two lessons from two authorised textbooks used in senior high school c1assrooms in Japan were selected for analysis. Six Australian native speakers of English were invited to be interviewed twice. In the first interview the informants were asked to read a passage from a textbook and talk about the cultural meanings embedded in the text by responding thirteen questions. After the first interview the transcriptions were analysed in terms of the cultural meanings in the text for native speakers. Different interpretations among the informants were specified and the questionnaire which asked about those differences was sent to the informants by email. They were invited to respond to the questions and make comments if any. The second interview was conducted on another passage from a different textbook in the same way as the first, followed by the questionnaire. The research revealed the following cultural meanings embedded in the two texts: independence, time, home and house, the aged people and a nursing home, stereotypes of the aged people and gender roles and some other minor issues. With knowledge thus obtained in the research, it is hoped that teachers of English and students in Japan would benefit and teaching/learning of culture would prevail across more English classrooms in Japan.